The Eagles' "Shady" Situation at Running Back!

Photo by Travis Lindquist

It looks as if LeSean "Shady" McCoy will become a major role player in the Philadelphia backfield for years to come. In not re-signing Brian Westbrook, the Eagles sent a precise message that they believe in McCoy as the feature back. After Sunday's performance in Westbrook's absence, LeSean is indeed "the real McCoy."

The Eagles' 2nd pick is making the biggest impact of them all thus far. The tough, little running back from Pitt is better than advertised and has now inadvertently made for confusion in the Eagle backfield. Or is it confusion?!

The Eagles, when star runner Westbrook returns will most likely go to a 2-headed monster attack, helping out the offense even more. This duo in the backfield will become a force to be reckoned with and become a nightmare for teams to defend along with a complex WildCat scheme.

With the exception of holding the ball a tad bit away from his body at times, the rookie runner is exactly what the Eagles hoped for and then some. He’s the replacement they’ve been searching for, and now with Westbrook hitting his ‘30s it all makes perfect sense.

LeSean McCoy will be a household name in Philadelphia for years to come. In a variety of ways McCoy, along with DeSean Jackson, Kevin Kolb, Jeremy Maclin, Stewart Bradley, and Trent Cole among others represent the “new” face of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Hands of $Money!$

Floyd "Money" Mayweather is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He's proved that time and time again in his illustrious career, and did so once again with a dominant performance against Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez.

"Pretty Boy," "Money," or whichever you'd like to call him is still in the prime of his career even after a 16-month layoff, at the crisp age of 32. He proved that by taking on one of the top fighters in the sport, and showing no ring rust in the least. Don't forget the fact that even though he only landed an abysmal 12% of his punches against Mayweather, Marquez is one of the very best.

Floyd Mayweather has proved just about everything to us in the past, present and looks to continue to do so in the near future. The only proof left consists of the new pound-for-pound challenger to Floyd's throne: Manny Pacquiao.

A Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is certainly in the works, so long as Pacquiao wins his upcoming fight on November 14th against Miguel Cotto. With Mayweather's dominance of Marquez this past Saturday night, this SuperFight is shaping up to be the bout of the century, and a fresh way to start off the next decade.

The winner will ultimately be P4P King, no exceptions. Money will be flying in from all directions for this fight, and with that being Floyd's calling in life, he's up for the task.

Week 2 NFL Predictions!

Carolina Panthers 14 @ Atlanta Falcons 27
Atlanta’s offensive arsenal will be too much for an out-of-whack Panther squad. Matt Ryan will pick apart a poor defense for a significant divisional W early in the season.

Minnesota Vikings 34 @ Detroit Lions 10
Brett Favre’s surrounding tools combined with a nasty defense will run the Lions’ losing streak to 19!

Cincinnati Bengals 7 @ Green Bay Packers 23
With a hungry GB defense buying into new coordinator Dom Capers’ 3-4 scheme, this will be a tumultuous day for Carson Palmer. (See: Jay Cutler.)

Arizona Cardinals 27 @ Jacksonville Jaguars 23
‘Zona should be able to secure a road win and shake off that disastrous opener a week ago, but the Super Bowl and Madden curses could hinder them.

Oakland Raiders 24 @ Kansas City Chiefs 21
The Raiders are out to prove that last week’s performance against the top team out West wasn’t a joke. They’ll spoil Matt Cassel’s debut with a come-from-behind victory orchestrated by JaMarcus Russell.

New England Patriots 30 @ New York Jets 28
New England needs to restructure its stance as THE team in the AFC East, with a healthy Tom Brady, that’s very likely, but with a suspect defense, only time will tell.

New Orleans Saints 21 @ Philadelphia Eagles 27
Drew Brees will scare just about any defense, and with Donovan McNabb out the Eagles chances are 50-50, but Kevin Kolb, given time and space will make the plays needed to pull out an electric contest in Philadelphia.

Houston Texans 14 @ Tennessee Titans 27
The Titans’ Kerry Collins will be ready to avenge the opening night loss, leading his troops to a convincing defeat over a division foe.

St. Louis Rams 16 @ Washington Redskins 21
In a match-up of cellar dwellers, Jason Campbell gets the nod here and gets Washington’s stingy defense its first victory of the season. (Boy, that loss to the Giants was painful last weekend for Jim Zorn’s bunch.)

Seattle Seahawks 14 @ San Francisco 49ers 10
In a defensive minded chess match, this week’s shocking game of the week will see rookie Aaron Curry’s defense outduel Patrick Willis’s.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10 @ Buffalo Bills 27
T.O. will see the ball much more against a bad Bucs team, expect this coming out party to be the start of the honeymoon between T.O.-Bill fans-Trent Edwards.

Pittsburgh Steelers 17 @ Chicago Bears 14
Despite each team losing defensive leaders, the Steelers have lasting power that will crumble Cutler’s shot at breaking the ice in The Windy City.

Cleveland Browns 13 @ Denver Broncos 27
Expect a nice home debut for Kyle Orton, he may not make people forget Cutler, but with Jay’s latest performance in GB, no one in Denver is remembering him right now either. Denver, an enigma with new head coach Josh McDaniels will not stay in the hunt much longer with a rather difficult schedule.

Baltimore Ravens 17 @ San Diego Chargers 13
Baltimore’s Joe Flacco will guide this team over a Charger-less L.T. on the West Coast; a tough test that the Audubon native Flacco will be up for.

New York Giants 35 @ Dallas Cowboys 24
Eli Manning and co. will spoil Dallas’ opener under the bright lights of Sunday Night Football. Jerry Jones’ billion dollar stadium will stand on a miniscule platform, as taking the “grand stage” will be Wade Phillips’ job status.

Indianapolis Colts 20 @ Miami Dolphins 10
An unexciting Monday Night encounter will be the scene with Peyton Manning torching the Fins’ secondary. Indy must show what it’s made of just in case the AFC South starts getting a bit crowded up at the top.

Cool Cole

Photo by David J. Phillips, AP


Cole Hamels is once again the definition of the world "cool" in the city of Philadelphia. He’s the “best thing since sliced bread,” Seriously, how cool a name is Cole Hamels? From his wife Heidi, to his World Series MVP trophy, Cole Hamels is the envy of all man.

It’s now September, Cole’s time to shine. With much of his ’09 campaign being average with mere flashes of brilliance, Hamels now seems ready for takeoff. His last five starts have reminded us of the type of pitcher that he truly is.
Hamels’ recent resurgence solidifies the top of the rotation heading into the playoffs giving Philadelphia a powerful 1-2 punch of lefties in Hamels and Cliff Lee.

Hamels’ last five outings have seen him go 3-1 with a 1.45 ERA; this is at exactly the most opportune time for a team mounting a 7.5 game lead in its year-long stranglehold on the NL East.

Hamels’ remaining three starts will tell, if all goes well, we could see Hamels and Lee roll into the postseason ready to take down any and all hitters from whichever opponent awaits. But as we’ve seen before, October proves to be a fresh slate in which everyone starts out equally, and one emerges from the pack as champion.

If Hamels’ last five starts are any indication, the postseason could very well, once again become,
“The Cole Hamels Show”, the only necessary platform for the Phightins to launch their second consecutive World Series march on Broad St. That’s right, the only way the Phillies repeat, is if Hamels brings his stuff as he did last fall, if that does happen, it's“Lights Out!” once again, as this Phillies team is better than last year’s.



On a brief side note, a quick congratulations to Juan Martin del Potro, the only man to defeat both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the same tournament, leading to a U.S. Open victory for the Spaniard.

Shawn Andrews: "Big Depressed Kid"

Back on Draft Day in 2004, the Philadelphia Eagles took quite a gamble in moving up to 12 spots to a middle-of-the-road #16 to draft a mammoth offensive lineman out of Arkansas. Whenever a team spends its top pick on a lineman as the Eagles have done on numerous occasions, the way is made for skepticism, it's one of those quintessential hit or miss deals. While most teams address direct needs with their top pick, often going after highly-touted players at skill positions, Andy Reid has stockpiled his talent in the trenches, in hopes of building top walls on both sides of the football through the NFL Draft.
There was just something special and appealing about this particular player who big-manned his way through the best conference in college football, the SEC. The "Big Kid's" name was the 16th overall to be called on that Saturday afternoon in The Garden. In trading away a disgruntled John Welbourn on day 2 of the Draft, the Eagles made it very clear what their intentions were for this Arkansas native, starting right guard, a position in which Shawn Andrews would eventually relish and become a top interior lineman in the sport.
Reid's Eagles were then and still remain to be a team built to win upfront, thus this move had little, if any, shock value. Along with Pro-Bowlers Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan, Andrews was expected to come in and form one of the very best O-lines in the league, which would guide the Eagles to the top.
Despite different reports on Andrews' mindset/disposition towards playing in the NFL, most notably his laziness, the Eagles rolled the dice high.
Season one was a major individual disappoint for the rookie Andrews, whom saw his season end in an instant against the hated New York Giants in game one. Yet, the production to come was exactly what was expected all along.

A stellar '05 season in the midst of a disastrous one for the team landed Andrews as a Pro-Bowl alternate. Then adding in back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons in '06 & '07 as an encore, playing as the cornerstone on a formidable line which helped land Brian Westbrook to his All-Pro caliber level. Andrews proved to be paying off and worthy of the move that the Eagles made back on the 24th of April 2004.

Depression proved to be a major setback for Andrews in the summer of '08, thus setting his Eagles career down an entirely different path. An eventual herniated disk in week 2 on MNF against the hated Dallas Cowboys was the final straw for Shawn in the '08 campaign.

In his holding out of the '09 camp, Andrews deemed unreliable, irresponsible, and was comprehensively viewed as having one foot out the door.

In the wake of losing both veteran tackles Jon Runyan and Tra Thomas , Andrews' big brother Stacy was targeted to fill a void, eventually Jason Peters also to once again reignite a top line in the NFL. The only option for the Eagles was to move Shawn back to his college position at tackle.

A joyous Shawn jumped at the opportunity to play with his big brother and looked to put past issues to rest once and for all and re-solidify himself as a top blocker, all of this despite not playing a snap of pre-season.

The opener, in which the Eagles annihilated the Carolina Panthers 38-10, saw a new look protecting QB Donovan McNabb. Peters-Nick Cole-Jamaal Jackson-STACY! Andrews-Winston Justice, where's Shawn you ask? Trying to find himself once more in his up-down enigmatic stint here in Philadelphia.

A tenure which now appears to be all but over. Should Reid have seen this one coming? The free-spirited Andrews in an example of how NOT to handle certain situations, just like T.O., Brian Dawkins, Andy's own children, The Stewart Bradley injury, and Mike Vick, the Eagles, with Andrews,h ave once again wrote a chapter in "How NOT to Handle Issues 101."

There were different roads optioned in all these situations, but maybe in this latest one, we can give management the benefit of the doubt. Who wants to deal with a headache, depression or back pain anyways?

Shawn "Big Kid" Andrews is clearly a monkey off of the Eagles' backs, while they will miss his talent greatly on the line, he's all sizzle no substance.

Even with five years remaining on his contract, the Eagles appear prepared to continue with Stacy as the only Andrews in the trenches. Reid bought into Shawn's talent , all baggage inclusive back in '04 and the honeymoon is coming to a halt as Reid has suddenly given up on his most productive #1 pick in this decade (except for maybe Lito Sheppard, give or take his issues also) in a flash. Once again proving Reid's vulnerability when it comes to player/media issues off of the football field.

Shawn Andrews is far too large of an ego than even his body can hold at this point. Andrews reminded us of his ego in his giving up on this football team once again, not neglecting to collect his $$ might I add. Pain or NO pain, Andrews' contractual agreement to the Philadelphia Eagles' organization has been deeply severed, but is this the final time?? Only time will tell, but for right now, there's far too much offensive weaponry on this offense to worry.

So now, new YouTube/Twitter star Shawn Andrews will have to live with his selfish actions and realize that he's not mature enough and is still as his nickname implies, "The Big Kid."